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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28196790">until the infinite forever</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaticmeap/pseuds/lunaticmeap'>lunaticmeap</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Marriage Proposal, after waiting ten billion years like an oblivious idiot, in which Keith finally decides to put a ring on it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:55:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,737</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28196790</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaticmeap/pseuds/lunaticmeap</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Keith ponders over an important subject.</p><blockquote>
  <p> "I'm not going to ask you to marry me yet, don't worry." He chuckled, playing it off. Somehow those words were reassuring but saddening at the same time, and Keith merely nodded, thin lipped. </p>
  <p>"At least... not until you've had a thought about it."</p>
  <p>"But when I do, what if I..." <em> don't want a marriage?</em></p>
  <p>Keith licked his lips, unable to bear the heaviness of the words, not when Shiro had shown all the signs of hopefulness. </p>
  <p>Shiro pulled him in then, resting his head against Keith's. "We'll talk about it then." </p>
</blockquote>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Shiro (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>until the infinite forever</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So you haven't ever thought about it."</p><p>Keith sighed, staring distantly into the horizon where the sun was beginning to approach. "No... I suppose I haven't."</p><p>"Do you want to?"</p><p>"To what? Have a wedding?"</p><p>"No. Just... marriage in general." Shiro shrugged, reaching for Keith's hand and rubbed over the back of it soothingly.</p><p>"Should I be?" Keith turned to him, hoping his voice didn't deliver the nervousness that his heart rate was screaming.</p><p>Shiro seemed to be searching for words of his own as he searched Keith's face - for hesitation perhaps. And Keith was if, perhaps, hesitant to address the topic in general.</p><p>"Only if you want to." Shiro finally said with a smile, not quite reaching his eyes.</p><p>"Have you been thinking about it?"</p><p>Shiro nodded. "Yeah. For a while now."</p><p>"Oh." Keith turned back to the crisp orange sunset and desert below them, because he didn't exactly know how to respond to that. The afternoon wasn't particularly cold that day, but Keith shivered slightly nonetheless, unsure of what from. Excitement? Anxiety? Or even fear?</p><p>Shiro seemed to realise what it is though, and he squeezed the hand in his slightly. "I'm not going to ask you to marry me yet, don't worry." He chuckled, playing it off. "At least... not until you've had a thought about it."</p><p>Somehow those words were reassuring but saddening at the same time, and Keith merely nodded, thin lipped.</p><p>"But when I do, what if I..." <em>don't want a marriage?</em> Keith licked his lips, unable to bear the heaviness of the words, not when Shiro had shown all the signs of hopefulness.</p><p>Shiro pulled him in then, resting his head against Keith's. "We'll talk about it then." </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It seemed awfully significant to Shiro, and to most people on Earth, to officiate their most intimate relationship as marriage, a custom Keith still couldn't quite understand despite having grown up on Earth. They were intimate enough (fucking on a weekly basis at least), sharing the same house, sharing thoughts and most aspects of their lives with each other, fought for each other.</p><p>Marriage was signing a piece of paper. But they had both almost died for each other.</p><p>Keith argued that the latter was more romantic. And Lance only rolled his eyes dramatically at his statement. "Of course you would think that. But it's not just about making it a lawfully accepted thing and tax benefits. It's about the future." </p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"You're asking me that?" Lance gave him a deadpanned stare. "After you basically announced your promise to never let Shiro go to the universe like at least 10 times over the last five years?"</p><p>"Well that's what he was promising me first!"</p><p>"That's what marriage is, dude - promises. Promises to love, to care, to commit. It's not just dolling out affections day by day and then pulling it back whenever. It's about doing that, and promises of it for the infinite future."</p><p><em>Infinite future.</em> The words bounced in Keith's head. It seemed awfully too long, yet somehow too short when he thought about Shiro.</p><p>"Is that what you promised to Allura when you asked to marry her?"</p><p>"Yeah, of course. That and everything else."</p><p>Keith couldn't ask what <em>everything else</em> was before Lance was whisked off for duties, but he did spend the days and weeks after mulling about it whenever he caught Shiro's eyes across the room, in the corridors, and in their home. He thought about how they lived, how they flowed around each other, and how their lives connected. It was somehow the small things that were starting to stand out when he started looking for it.</p><p>Like how despite the fact that Shiro was always the first person at a meeting, he was definitely not an early bird and had a ridiculous amount of sugar in his coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. He also loved to kiss the back of Keith's neck in the morning as soon as he was delivered his coffee. <em>"Thank you, baby,"</em> he would say into the warmth of Keith's back and the coffee in his hand. He was already happy with where they were. Marriage seemed redundant.</p><p>"Well human marriages are rather redundant in my opinion." His mother had told him. "But that's because Galran marriages aren't quite like human marriages, I think. "Your father and I were never married in the human sense. But we were very much married in Galra customs."</p><p>Keith perked at the statement. "How do Galra marriages work?"</p><p>She left for her room, and came back to the couch with a box. Inside were small trinkets: Balmera crystals that no longer glowed, rocks, a baby rattle, and a dog tag on a ball chain. They were all relics of a time gone by, but all treasured by her in some way.</p><p>"Those crystals used to glow a burgundy red." She pointed and allowed Keith to pick it up. "Much like luxite, Balmera crystals could be infused with another being's quintessence. They're used in both Altean and Galran marriage customs. The Galran methodology is rather different from the Altean alchemists' ways, though - your father had it sitting in a teacup of his blood for a day."</p><p>Keith almost dropped the crystal. "Did you just say blood?"</p><p>Krolia nodded, unfazed. "It's the old ways of the Galra. Marriage is not just promises, but evidences of your capabilities to care for each other. We attempt trials of duty given by our mate's family to prove our strength and courage. Blood was often spilled in the process, and we soak Balmera crystals in them, as a symbol of commitment, and evidence of the passed trials "</p><p>Keith nodded, testing the weight of the crystal in his hand. "What did dad do?"</p><p>"He saved my life. And he raised you." Krolia smiled, hand carding through his hair. "It was his greatest act of love for me."</p><p>Keith turned the stone in his hand, the weight of it suddenly prominent, like wedding rings, he supposed. Just a tad more... extreme.</p><p>"You're not going to ask Shiro to cut himself open if I decide to marry him, are you?" He looked at her in alarm.</p><p>"No, I think I've seen enough to know he's worthy of anything you'll give him." Krolia laughed at him. "I should mention, however, that most of the Blades (including me) believe that that you two are married - in the Galran sense, that is."</p><p>Keith ears and cheeks were blaringly red the entire dinner with Shiro and his mother that night.</p><p>They took their bikes to the desert later in the evening to stargaze after, laying down a blanket and a picnic basket with some precut fruits, cheese, crackers, wine and ham. Keith had never had a cheese platter before the war ended, which Shiro thought was an absolute tragedy. </p><p>"Did you know that according to Galran customs, we're basically already married?" Keith said as Shiro was sipping on his wine, and the poor man almost spat it all over Keith in response.</p><p>Shiro wiped the wine from his mouth. "What?"</p><p>"Apparently Galran marriages consists of trials to show that you are strong and capable of taking care of each other or something. And we've basically gotten through a war together, so the Blades - and my mom - basically think we're married - on Galran standards." Keith popped a grape into his mouth. "The only thing we're missing is Balmera crystals soaked in our blood as a symbol of our commitment."</p><p>"I'm sorry, did you just say blood?" Shiro blinked.</p><p>"That's what I said too." Keith laughed.</p><p>"I don't actually have to do it... do I?" Shiro laughed, but it was a hilariously nervous sort of laugh that had Keith snorting wine up his nose, coughing and sneezing it out afterwards.</p><p>Shiro visibly relaxed when he was reassured that no, he did not have to wrestle a ten foot equivalent of Krolia, wiping a metaphorical sweat off his forehead. Keith shook his head in amusement. "You're just happy you don't have to do it because mom already saw everything you've done for me. You practically raised me after dad died. Not a lot can top that."</p><p>"No? Not even the best sex in your life?" Shiro teased.</p><p>Keith flicked his ear. "Don't let her know about that or she might actually castrate you." Shiro covered his crotch with both his hands with exaggerated fear on his face, mouth pouting.</p><p>It was entirely too endearing, and Keith couldn't help but to lean closer to kiss him, hand drifting to the palms on top of his pants. It was a light peck at first, and then it were longer, slow and warm kisses that left them both a bit breathless and too heated despite the cold night. Intimacy with Shiro always felt surreal - the memories of it afterwards didn't quite stick in his mind like normal memories.</p><p>It was like a haze - but a beautiful one that Keith had thought he would have outgrown it by now, but three years since they had gotten together and he accepted that it was going to just always be like this. And... he wanted it to keep having this: the sleepy morning hugs, the late night dumb whispers, pillow talks, the rush to back each other up in battle, the offers for back massages at the end of the day - all of it, he had accepted without ever thinking about ten years from now, and where they would be with this.</p><p>And it wasn't that he didn't trust that they would not last for another ten, twenty or fifty years - no, Keith had almost died for Shiro, he would follow him to the edge of the universe. But marriage wasn't that.</p><p>It was a promise to love, to adore and to care for each other.</p><p>It was a promise to live with, and for each other.</p><p>It was a promise for the infinite future together.</p><p>And Keith realised, under the moonlit sky and the chilly desert breeze that seeped through his clothes, that he wanted that. He wanted all of this, forever, with Shiro.</p><p>So when they finally parted from their kiss, breaths heavy and close, foreheads touching and arms wrapped around each other, Keith swallowed his nerves and said with tears brimming eyes.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Takashi. Let's get married.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>And Shiro's beaming smile on their wedding day was the brightest Keith had ever seen it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this came from a thread on twitter that i literally wrote like 2 hrs ago instead of writing cover letters (when am i ever functional lmao) and fixed it up. alSO how is this fic like almost 2k words like tf?</p><p>This was inspired by a wedding in the family that happened yesterday (dear lord it was long) and as much as i love marriage and the idea of it, weddings are - and will always be - a nightmare.</p><p>Hope you all enjoyed that! leave a comment if you like or hmu on <a href="https://twitter.com/imbabyplzbekind">twitter</a> (or <a href="https://meapistrash.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> becuz i occasionally skirt around there still, lmao).</p></blockquote></div></div>
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